Chris Thile Quotes

To be a good improviser, you have to study composition as a parallel. Because what improvisation is, on a high level, is spontaneous composition.

The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.

What I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.

With human beings it could be argued that all music-making is, in essence, grounded in improvisation.

I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.

I don't ever consciously change gears when I play jazz or classical. It's all music.

I'm an interpreter of music.

I am an interpreter of music rather than a composer of it.

Music is extremely intuitive, which acting too in a different way.

Just like using an instrument, a song calls for different things.

There is no 'perfect' in music. If I ever came off the stage and felt it could not be better, it would then be time to quit.

To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming.

There were no rules, other than that the song should sound good and be fun to play.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

Some people really want to play Mozart and be just performers. I was more interested in invention.

I don't work out a lead section and practice it for a day and then lay it down. I don't do that. The first time I do something I think is expressive or really cool, that's what's actually on the recording.

When you're playing the part of a saxophone or a trumpet player, both of which I have done, it would be nice to be able to play like John Coltrane, but you can't. Your job is to do something else. And I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think I'd be acting Niels Bohr any better if I went and studied physics for five years.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

If I try to write a song, I will completely fail to write a song. But if I'm just holding my guitar and I just start humming, then I'll have a song in an hour.

I look at my clarinet sometimes and I think, I wonder what's going to come out of there tonight? You never know.

When we first started playing we did a lot of rehearsing. We used to write out everything. In fact, that's the way everybody rehearses: we play the tunes and improvise.

I usually think in terms of music.

I always communicate musically. I want my band not only to learn the form and feel of the song by ear, like I do, but also have the freedom to contribute.

I didn't have to apply my mind to the aspects of scales and playing, and instead, I focused on creativity. I wrote music, but I didn't 'practice' it. So yeah, you can always get better and improve your technique, but hopefully, that comes through being a musician and composing and being a creative individual.